Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Sells 30,925 Shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras $PBR

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lessened its position in shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) by 51.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 29,762 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after selling 30,925 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras were worth $353,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 14.7% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,211,745 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $255,881,000 after purchasing an additional 2,592,536 shares in the last quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP increased its holdings in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 18,975,177 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $224,856,000 after purchasing an additional 166,472 shares in the last quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD increased its holdings in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 14.1% during the 4th quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 12,655,094 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $149,963,000 after purchasing an additional 1,562,473 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC increased its holdings in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 52.0% during the 3rd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 4,872,441 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $61,685,000 after purchasing an additional 1,665,873 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Perpetual Ltd increased its holdings in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 3,313,257 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $39,262,000 after purchasing an additional 18,100 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PBR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America upgraded shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $18.70 to $24.80 in a research note on Friday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from $13.10 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $19.28.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras Trading Down 1.7%

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras stock opened at $17.76 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $20.33 and a 200-day moving average of $16.47. Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras has a one year low of $11.03 and a one year high of $22.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.49. The company has a market cap of $114.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.77, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.32.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, March 31st. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras had a net margin of 21.67% and a return on equity of 23.65%. The business had revenue of $23.54 billion during the quarter. On average, equities analysts expect that Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras will post 4.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a special dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be paid a $0.1426 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 3rd. Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.04%.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras Profile

Petróleo Brasileiro SA – Petrobras is a Brazilian, state-controlled integrated oil and gas company headquartered in Rio de Janeiro. Founded in 1953, Petrobras is principally engaged in the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas, and operates across the full value chain from upstream activities through refining, transportation and downstream marketing of petroleum products. The company is a major player in Brazil’s energy sector and is a listed public company with global capital market presence.

Petrobras’s core activities include deepwater and ultra-deepwater exploration and production, where it has been a pioneer in developing pre-salt reserves off Brazil’s coast.